Group

Location

Audio System

About Me

Hey guys!
I am doing a project where I'm investigating Dynaudio and it's main competition. I am a complete newbie in this field and curious to know a few things:
- which brands would you consider main competitors to Dynaudio?
-Would also be great to know what sets these brands a part, what would be Dynaudios main strengths and weaknesses compared to it's main competitors?
- is Dynaudio an innovative brand or are other brands using more innovative technologies? Which ones?
All opinions highly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!

I have been experimenting with chassis grounding for many years. In high end audio it is fairly new but in Pro audio it has been used for decades. Chassis grounding can remove unwanted magnetic interference,transformer leakage,common mode noise and other types of signal induced noise. Because most signal grounding intersects the chassis,I find that good chassis grounding will improve SQ.The goal is to make the ground pathway large enough to make a difference in removing all common mode noise. A small pathway will make the difference in SQ very incremental. A good size copper stranded cable is what needed in a star ground circuit.
What I call extreme grounding in a star circuit will greatly increase clarity and substantially lower the system noise floor. Digital audio will benefit greatly.

As you’re aware that there’ll be upgraded version of Fidelizer in upcoming release. However, it doesn’t decrease the quality of works I put into original Fidelizer one bit. Version 6.0 comes with big changelog fixing various issues found thorough the year. It also have some changes and improvements to be more stable and reliable. If you enjoy good sound from Fidelizer and want more for the better, consider Fidelizer upgrade program to advance your computer audio journey to the next step.
Changes in version 6.0
-Added Fidelizer upgrade program for buying advanced version of Fidelizer
-Changed ‘Professional’ optimization level name to ‘Workstation (General Purpose)’
-Changed default optimization level to ‘Workstation (General Purpose)’ for stable default configuration
-Changed some core optimizations to supported values according to Microsoft documents
-Fixed multi-core optimizations not working properly for audio playback part
-Fixed Fidelized audiophile player playback stability and compatibility
-Fixed JRemote and few others apps not working in Windows 8.1 using Extremist optimization level
-Fixed some Network Streaming optimizations that worked on unchecked one instead
-Fixed uPNP not working using Extremist optimization level with keeping network services
-Fixed some errors in parsing system configuration
-Revised core optimizations improving compatibility with all optimization levels and network streaming
Info and Download: Fidelizer 6.0

Having been an audiophile for well over 25 years and an amateur astronomer for 40 years, I'm very curious as to how many others here are into both hobbies. Is there something common in us that might lead to an interest in both? Love of beauty? Or science? Or is the night sky in some way similar to beautiful music? Or maybe both provide a solitary escape? Would love to hear others opinion on this.

iEMatch
What the $^ heck is it?
We thank you all for your patience and for entering the competition. But besides DUke40, none of the answers were close to being correct - and Duke 40 already won over at Head-Fi.
Nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed running the competition. Thank you all for entering.
The iEMatch
1) What is this new product? Where is it used?
iEMatch - it is inserted between the Source and the Headphones/IEMs.
2) What is the first button for – the one on the main barrel (on the left)?
Getting rid of the HISS and excessive LOUDness. From mismatched source amplification and headphones.
3) What is the second button for – the one on the 3.5mm connector (on the right)?
Selection of Single-Ended (TRS) or Balanced (TRRS). This is a connector proposed by iFi audio to make life simpler with SE or Balanced operation on the go. (More on this later).
Why did we develop the iEMatch? The following series of technical notes outlines why we have brought this product to market. We hope you enjoy reading them.
Too LOUD, too much HISS? (Part 1)
Headphone/IEM mismatched
Nearly every High-End Headphones/In-Ear-Monitors(IEM) user has encountered one of the following scenarios.
When the headphones/IEMs are connected to the:
inflight entertainment system
smartphone
A/V Amp, HiFi System or dedicated headphone amplifier
the volume is at the lowest setting but it is still TOO LOUD and between songs there is a LOT of HISS.
This is a mismatch between the Headphones or In-Ear-Monitors and your audio source.
Now one can of course sell the new Headphones or IEMs and buy some that are a better match, except many modern Headphones and IEMs are designed with a very large (around 10 times/20dB) mismatch built-in.
Instead, one can simply add the iEMatch® in line with your IEM’s or Headphones and adjust for the best match with your source.
How bad a mismatch do I have?
Background
Let us take some numbers for sound levels.
[TABLE=width: 100%]
[TR]
[TD=colspan: 2] Noise/Sound levels[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] Jet takeoff (50m)[/TD]
[TD] 140dB[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] Thunderclap[/TD]
[TD] 130dB (Threshold of pain)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] Auto horn (1m)[/TD]
[TD] 120dB[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] Chainsaw (1m)[/TD]
[TD] 110dB[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] Loud Rock Concert[/TD]
[TD] 105dB[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
# sustained exposure >95dB may result in permanent hearing loss
Due to the risk of hearing damage it is not advisable to exceed 95dB average SPL and around 115dB peak sound levels.
Mismatch
If we use an iPhone set to maximum (appx. 0.8…1V) and a common HiFi system or in-flight entertainment system (appx 8V) and play music with peaks at the digital maximum, how does a small sample of high-end Headphones and IEMs fare (2)?
* at Ultra sensitivity setting
[TABLE=width: 113]
[TR]
[TD] Mismatch[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] Acceptable[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] Good Match[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Red (>116dB) is ‘WAY TOO LOUD,’ which means you have a jet taking off or a thunderclap right beside your ears, which is the majority of the headphones sampled fall into.
Amber (113 - 116dB) is borderline.
Green (<= 112dB) is fine.
The loudest headphone (actually an IEM) is a whopping 30dB or eight times as loud as a standard airline headphone. No wonder it will blow one’s head off even at the lowest volume setting on in-flight entertainment.
And with a good headphone amplifier or HiFi system it will produce an unbelievable 155dB, never mind irreversible hearing damage, at those SPL’s tissue in the human ear begins to die off!! (yes, hearing is permanently destroyed).
In addition to irreversible hearing damage, having mismatched headphones/iEMs mean that the annoying background noise (hiss) is significantly amplified and affects the enjoyment of music.
Solution
Most headphones can be matched into the ‘green’ range for comfortable listening using iEMatch® with one of the two settings or at least be brought much closer.

Hello,
I recently got a new computer and realized that they did not have any speakers in them. I have set of apple ear pods that i usually use but sometime i don't feel like wearing them so I went looking of a set of second hand speakers.
I stumbled this set of Acoustic Research speakers somewhere and they look like a decent set of headphones, but i'm not sure if i should get them because they are pretty old. I'm not sure what model it is either do any of you recognize it? I also read somewhere that Acoustic Research made high end equipment but was told that it was 12 years old so i'm not too sure how much long it will last. Some others that i have asked have said that it looked like it was 30 years old which make me a bit more pessimistic.
the seller said: "Speakers are in good condition but do have a few small marks. All speaker drivers are working well. Connected to a phone the speakers sound great."
What is the model/sku of these speakers?
How much should this set of they worth?
How much longer should they last?
Should i get them?
Are they even good?
So many questions, i know, sorry about that. I'm not really an audiophile so my what seems like a nice set of speakers may not actually be nice. Please let me know if they are not.
Thankyou

So, when I Google search to understand better a product that's mentioned, there are listening-room images...
Well, impersonally, let's critique others (audiophiles that aren't members of CA) and learn from what we think they've done right, or wrong.
To begin, saw this photo from someone in Japan :
You can have your say first, perhaps nominate another pic...

Well, comparing sound to video, video is quite easy. You get a nice display driver, a standard projection device, and you can have a really clear, rich, crisp display. You can see that the video is of high quality by it's color correctness, resolution and what not. But, coming to sound, what is quality sound? I mean sure, you can buy DAC's and monitors, and play FLACs. But what's the difference? Because unlike video, which can be of shitty quality in shitty devices, and high quality in powerful devices, sound can be played on every speaker/audio device.

Whenever I record audio from Youtube or Spotify, The recording normally sounds thin and
without body. I look at the frequency spectrum in Har-Bal, and there is a pronounced dip in the frequency at around 460hz and nearby frequencies. I record using Audacity at 24/176.4, I have not tried to record at 16/44.1 yet, but I don't think it would make any difference, it happens no matter what website I go to. I have used Sound Forge as well, the same dip.
Of course, I can correct for that dip in Har-Bal, but I am not going to know what the original frequency spectrum is, so I have to do the best I can. I normally download classical or jazz music either at DSD or high-res PCM on Youtube. The songs themselves sound fantastic when I finish recording, very little noise, but again, they sound relatively hollow and thin.
Do other people experience the same thing? Is there any way to correct for that, stop it from happening? Maybe it is the built-in sound card?!
Thanks to all, I am new to downloading from websites, but not to being an audiophile.

After some technical issues with another player,
Another user said have a look at RaspBerry Pi,
I got one, installed RuneAudio, and external soundcard,
not only does it work without writing one single line of code ,
but it out perform the Pioneer in all possible ways :-)
at only 1/10 the price and still is it 10 times as good and cool and stable.
It supports Any audio format and resolution I got access to, even also all my HIDEF files.
No buggy apps to install, just visit a homepage, all pads and phones and pc's can visit the same webpage even at the same time
all can control, and even more cool, there is also volume !! and what have you !!
when one user adjust on his pad, all others react live to the knob beeing turned, jaw dropping cool.
There is also internet radio, sportyfy, airplay, network and all the usb drives you can imagine to connect,
it even find pictures of the CD and display for me, better sound too and not one single crash.
PS: there exist several audio media player images / systems for the raspberry series of hardware platforms,
you can even use many other hardware cards if you want.
Check out : Moode Audio, Volumio, RuneAudio
So far I only tried RuneAudio, I hear they are a little bit different in look and feel,
but they all just transport the digital file directly to the spund card of your choise
without any kind of calculations or modifications.
I never owned or used a raspberry before, I also never used or played with linux computers,
but I was able to get this up and running in a few days, the internet told and showed me all I could possible need to know.

I just finished my DIY audiostreamer. The base is an AsRock motherboard with onboard processor (Q1900-ITX), wide PicoPSU, 3 linear power supplies (PSU) for the mobo, the ssd and the PPA USB V2 Card (Paul Pang). I made linear PSU’s based on the sigma 11 DY project by AMB laboratories (USA). Currently, I have installed Daphile. More info and photo's on:
https://audiostreamerdiyproject.wordpress.com/

I'm trying to upgrade an older audio theater system with Bluetooth, so I can play music from my phone. Anybody have any experience with upgrading an older systems as such?
I'm stuck trying to decide between these two brands. One is Bose and the other is from another good Amazon brand that's a bit more affordable, although the product is new on the market.
https://kinivo.com/product/btr200-hd-bluetooth-audio-receiver/
https://www.bose.com/products/speaker_accessories/bose-bluetooth-audio-adapter.html#v=bluetooth_adapter_ht_acc_black

My apologies if this has already been discussed, but I couldn't find a relevant solution. I'm running Windows 10 and Raspbian Wheezy on a Pi Model B in a network setup. I can get sound output from both devices through the PC speakers. Normally, my PC speakers are connected to the PC. The Pi output is to my monitor speakers via the HDMI cable (since my PC speakers have only one input). If I want to listen to the Pi audio through the PC speakers, I have to switch the speaker audio output cable from the PC to the PI audio output jack, which means I can only listen to the PC output through the monitor speakers. Will a simple one-to-two audio cable splitter box allow me to eliminate the monitor speakers and use the PC speakers for both outputs? Thanks for any help provided.
Steve

Okay, the past week I've been messing around with soundboards and virtual audio cables... The set up I am using right now is VB Audio cable (creates a virtual audio output and input). I'm using EXP Soundboard. My goal is to play sounds from any piece of software through my mic, WHILE also being able to use that mic. I also do not want any other sound from my computer to be heard outside of the software I'm trying to mix through my mic. Right now I'm able to use VB Audio cable to listen to my speakers/headset, and to play my mic and speakers/headset through the VB cable output. It works pretty well, I can use my soundboard in games on steam and on programs like mumble / teamspeak.. but the issue is they can hear everything on my speakers. I also am forced to listen to my mic through my speakers so I can hear myself while I talk. I know this has to be possible somehow, there has to be some software out there that can splice an audio source into the mic output WITHOUT having to share everything being played on my speakers/headset AND where I don't have to listen to my mic over my speakers/headset. It's the same with virtual audio cable, I imagine, since that just pretty much does what VB audio cable does... just a bit better, and you can have more lines in/out. I'm using USB headset and am not interested in buying any hardware. I assume that this can all be done with software, and if it hasn't been created yet I would be surprised. I am not interested in stereo mix, I assume that would just play everything going through my speakers also.
TL : DR - How can I mix sounds from a specific software source (a soundboard program, windows media player, internet browser etc) into my mic output while also using my mic to talk and not being forced to listen to my mic through my speakers to achieve this? (with out buying any hardware)

Hi, I'm looking for an inexpensive solution to 'bridge' or tunnel analog audio over an in-home IP connection. The audio originates from the line-out of one device, to the line-in of my outdoor speakers/amp setup. It can be transported over TCP or UDP is fine - basically, transport can be any packets supported by consumer switches/WiFi AP's. For the scenario, think: being able to follow the action of a sports broadcast when I go from home-theater room, to outside my house, where my outdoor speakers are. I always want the outdoor speakers to be a 'slave' to the indoor 'master' - and not control them independently.
I'm not aware of any 'bridge' device pairs that will tunnel audio over IP from a 'transmitter' to a 'receiver.' Devices like this exist for Bluetooth... but, I need to span a large distance, and figure I should be able to leverage the my wired/WiFi home network to achieve this, and not worry about audio quality, or bluetooth profiles, etc. Bridge pairs like this also exist for extending HDMI - but these are typically not IP; they just use a Cat5/6 cable for transport.
Also - the intent is to not break the bank - I'm hoping for decent audio quality (does a reasonable job with uncompressed FLACs of CD audio) for at or less than $200.
Thoughts? Does such a device exist? I have a spare laptop - I'm wondering if a reasonable solution would be to set the laptop up to stream the audio coming into a mic port, over the home network to an Airplay receiver (i.e. the $50-ish Airport Express variety). I'm not versed in AirPlay, but an AirPort Express seems like a pretty reliable and well-tested piece of gear for this.

I recently upgraded to Windows 10. After my upgrade was complete I realized my sound card (Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Pro) the manufacturer won't update them anytime soon. This sprung me to do some research on finding a new audio solution. Upon doing some research I found that using an internal sound card especially one like the one I was using was inferior to many other options.
Now here comes my dilemma and confusion as to what I need. A buddy of mine uses a stereo receiver to play back audio over his computer. I like the way that looks and sounds and was thinking that would be the route I would go as I want something with multi-channel capabilities (I'm currently running 5.1 surround on my computer) although I would be willing to drop down to a 2 channel setup although ultimately I would like the option to have a full surround setup. Would a good stereo receiver benefit from a DAC? Or should I just hook the receiver directly up to my computer?

ladies & gents,
using a mbpro (early 2011 2.2Ghz quad-core i7) which will be 4 years old in a few months.
due to several considerations (inc. power/reliability for daily pro use, os pref, tax relief, etc), have been thinking of upgrading.
now that audiophilia has been added to the equation, wondering if one should wait for the (long awaited) broadwell mbpros?
“fanless" tech sounds cool. + apple’s current prices for customised SSD upgrades is kind of depressing.
1. to wait or not to wait?
2. would also appreciate input from anyone running 2014 gen of retina mbpros (13” or 15”) for audio, in terms of pros and cons.
thank you.

Hey everyone,
I recently bought a used CD that plays fine, except one track, that "skips" for a few seconds when I play the CD in my car. I tried to import the CD into iTunes to see if it still had the same problem, but I noticed that the track that skipped in my car plays totally fine when imported. Why is this? Is it because of the CD or my car's player? Thanks.

Hello everyone!
I have been trying to piece together a setup to output to two HQ headphones simultaneously on my PC and have been struggling to find the correct solution. Basically i want to be able to be playing a game, enjoying great audio while being able to offer a friend the same audio experience. I do a lot of co-op working as well where we would be listening to music while working, and it would be nice to be enjoying the same song at a HQ level. Not to mention Co-Op Oculus gaming
The headsets i have had my sights on are these:
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-Performance-Surround-Gaming-Headset/dp/B008O515CK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404149189&sr=8-1&keywords=Sennheiser+363d
I do not have a great soundcard as of yet so i'm imagining i would need one, unless there is an all in one mixer solution i would need to go with.
A couple products people have mentioned to me are:
http://www.amazon.com/Audioengine-D1-24-bit-Digital-to-Analog-Converter/dp/B006IPH5H2
Amazon.com: ASTRO Gaming MixAmp Pro Kit: Electronics
And then having some sort of inline powered headphone splitter, however i have NO idea if this is a good setup or not, or even how to piece it together. As you can tell by my wording, i am very confused! Any help would be greatly appreciated and i apologize for my sporadic writing in advance!

Hey guys,
So I've got a bunch of questions, all relating to one point, and that is to improve my audio experience. There will be a lot of cringe-worthy things, so beware!
First up, I'll explain my current setup.
I have the majority of my audio (games/movies/music) being directed out the back of my PC via a 3.5mm jack from the onboard motherboard. I also have some programs (Teamspeak/Ventrilo) directing their audio to the front 3.5mm audio jacks. The reason for this is so when I record my gameplay, I can record the gameplays audio and avoid the audio from other programs being recorded. Now, to hear both, I use a splitter/merger for the 3.5mm jacks to a female-female adaptor and then again to another splitter/merger to split the audio to my headphones and to my speakers.
This can all be seen in its ugly glory right here.
*ouch*
So, right off the bat, you guys should know that this produces a lot of excess noise from sitting amongst the cables at the back of my PC and has reduced audio quality due to the amount of cabling.
Now, I've been doing a little research as to how I can significantly improve this. What I'm looking at is getting a DAC with duel digital input with duel analogue output - this should (?) provide the exact same results while providing a far better experience.
My motherboard is a Rampage III gene, which has two SPDIF outputs.
So, with all that covered, question time!
1. Will a duel input/output DAC merge the audio or will it remain separate?
2. How common is SPDIF used in quality motherboards (such as when I upgrade, how hard will it be to find this kind of setup again on a motherboard, or would it be better to just get a soundcard?)?
3. Suggestions as to what a good DAC would be that has the duel input/output (~$200 would be of decent quality?) if it even exists?.
4. I've seen USB is also an option, but unless it's superior, I'd like to keep the USB slot usage to a minimum if possible.
5. Is there much variation between cable quality?
Anywho, thanks for reading all this, hopefully you can help me with my quest!
Capt. Mytre

I have desktop computer with three jacks in the back panel. and two(mic and headphone) in front panel. I do not have speakers.
The computer has realtek audio device. I have a mono radio with line-in jack in front. I want to connect computer to the radio. how can I do it so that .detailed instructions are solicited with color code of jacks also. thank you. I would lprefer from front panel.

Hello,
Thanks in advance for any help.
I have a Compaq Presario (Model: CQ57-339WM).
The headphone jack broke on my computer shortly after buying it. So...I bought and have been successfully using a USB converter for my headphones.
My computer has 3 USB ports. 1 on the left and 2 on the right.
I had been using the port on the left to plug in the USB converter and headphones.
And...now the port on the left has broke (over-use I'm assuming). So I tried plugging in the converter
and headphones into one of the ports on the right hand-side of the computer.
And...no sound can be heard when the converter is plugged in on either port on the right.
I brought up the device manager and can see the audio registering (the bars going up and
down as the music is playing). However...no sound comes through the headphones.
I have spent about 3 hours roaming the internet attempting to find why this might be and
what I can do (I'm assuming it's some minor settings change) to fix it, but have not had any
luck.
Has anyone had this issue you before or heard of it? Any help in fixing this would be
greatly appreciated. I really don't want to bring it in and get charged 50 bucks or something
for a small fix.
Thank you again!

Hey,
I just got a new pre powered sub to go with my Dell Xps 8300 and its Speakers, but the sub only makes noise when testing it in the audio manager.
So for a while ive had the Dell Ay410 speakers, which worked great. Then I decided I wanted to upgrade, starting with a sub, and working towards a powerful 7.1 system for my pc, so i bouth the Polk audio psw10, and hooked it up to my computer. My sound card is the Sound blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio, which has jacks on the back for :
l/r (My dell Ay410s) sl/sr C/sub (My Polk Audio PSW10) R/Rl
So i plugged in both my devices and went to the configure option, bringing up My speaker set up, from which i selected 5.1, and pressed test, and it all worked fine, except the rear speakers which i dont have yet, so i went in and turned off the rear speakers, and pressed test again. My sub made no noise, but the Dells did. I then turned on the rear channels again, and the sub made sound when it was supposed to.
So how do i make it work in games, and in itunes/spotify?
My hardware:
Dell ay410 Polk Audio PSw10 Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio (Not sure which exact one, but the outside looks identical to the ports on this one) Rca male to 3.5mm male (connecting sub to pc) No idea what motherboard im on
So anyone got any helpful ideas?